SHINee 샤이니 ‘HARD’ is HARD! (Reaction)

Love This Guy !!

shinee never disappoints. like ever. 15 years into this industry and been though hell and back and they’re still putting out hits.

LETS FVCKING GO

I think the storyline in the SHINee's "Hard" MV can be interpreted in two ways. First of all, notice how in the beginning when the scene becomes animated, it shows Minho being pulled into the piano. Therefore, all the references in the MV have to do with a piano. For example, if you look at the set with the brown walls, you will notice that it looks like the inside of a piano with the wooden hammers that create the sound when the keys are played on the walls behind them. And the lighted white screen is divided like the white keys of the piano with the people's silhouettes representing the black keys, etc.

Some have pointed out how this could represent how music is what controls their lives and its what has trapped them in this world as artists. Which could be similar to the themes within Taemin's Never Gonna Dance Again album trilogy — "2 Kids", "Criminal" and "Idea" — and the the epilogue "Advice."

However, I'm also pretty sure that the whole "Hard" MV storyline is connected to SM's SM Culture Universe. The more I watch it, the more I see that seems to indicate that it's all connected.

As with all the groups under SM Entertainment, their storylines are all part of a larger concept kind of like a giant graphic novel or action movie series with a twist. SHINee's story, so far, primarily connects to EXO's and SuperM's storylines. Each group has their own individual storyline and concept, but when you put them all together there are threads of connections between the groups. You could sort of think of it like the Marvel franchise. Each of the Marvel characters has their own storyline, merchandise and fans, but the stories and concepts often overlap and connect. And with each new character that is introduced it expands on the whole Marvel universe.

To understand how all of SM's groups are connected, you first need to be aware that it all began with EXO's origin story in 2012. EXO's concept is that they are aliens from Planet Exo who have been sent to Earth on a mission to find and protect the Tree of Life from the Red Force, while also trying to fix all the things that are going wrong in the world, which are believed to be caused by the Red Force. The Red Force is thought to be here on Earth inflicting their evil agenda — corrupting humanity and causing all the bad things that are happening in the world, such as war, hate and destruction of the environment, etc. And because EXO is trying to undo and prevent the Red Force from accomplishing their goals, the Red Force is also trying to take down EXO by capturing them, corrupting them and standing in their way, etc.

I haven't had a whole lot of time to really analyze everything in SHINee's "Hard" MV, but what I see right off the bat is that when we first see Taemin, when he appears in the black sleeveless suit, he looks just like he did in his SuperM debut teasers.

SuperM is the Kpop industry's very first supergroup, which debuted in October 2019, and their concept and storyline is centered around the fact that they are Avengers-like superheros, so SuperM is the group that pretty much connects all of SM's groups together. SuperM is made up of members of SM's other male Kpop groups, such as Taemin from SHINee, Baekhyun and Kai from EXO, Taeyong and Mark from NCT, Ten from WayV and Lucas who is a former member of WayV. This group's storyline is that they are coming together to help EXO battle the Red Force, which is the evil villian or group within EXO's storyline.

I also think that the story in SHINee's "Hard" MV could be connected to Taemin's solo "Advice" MV storyline. We see him with his hands painted blue in "Hard," similar to his black ink stained hands and body in "Advice," and in both scenes we see him standing in front of/playing a piano.

Some have pointed out that the scene with the silhouettes behind the screen reminds them of the scene in Taemin's solo "Criminal" MV, with the people behind a screen pushing their hands into it. However, in "Hard" Taemin is standing in front of the screen, rather than walking through the middle with the two sides reaching for him like you will see in "Criminal". Although, I also think that scene could be connected to EXO's storyline, because we see in EXO's "Tempo" MV a scene where there are silhouettes behind a lighted white wall that looks very similar to this. In EXO's storyline, the people behind the wall are thought to be EXO's alter ego clones who were created by the Red Force or they could be the EXO members who are trapped behind the wall. We also see EXO fighting with their silhouette shadows in their live concert performance of their song "Wolf," which is also thought to be EXO battling X-EXO as they search for the Tree of Life.

Ever since SHINee came out with "Don't Call Me," I think that storyline was supposed to be SM bringing SHINee into the SM Culture Universe. In their "Don't Call Me" MV it looks as though the SHINee members go through some sort of wormhole as they are teleported somewhere and we see them all posing in their black outfits like they are getting ready for battle. This looks very similar to the scene in SuperM's debut "Jopping" MV when the SuperM members are coming together at the beginning of "Jopping." Therefore, because Taemin is a member of SuperM, I think SHINee is supposed to be getting ready to join SuperM in the fight against the Red Force.

In "Hard" we also see Taemin standing on a grate as he crouches down and looks through it at the "people" in white trapped below, similar to his scene in SuperM's "Jopping" MV.

I also see the scene with Key standing with all the dancers in white sitting around him in "Hard" as an important part of the story as well, however I'm not sure what it all means yet. We see Key remove the mask of one of the guys and we discover the guy has a glowing blue earpiece, which seems to be suggesting that they are being controlled by outside forces. However, because they are all just sitting there without moving, it seems to indicate that they are currently "shut-down". Either these people are androids or robots, like in EXO's "Lucky One" MV, or they are people who are under mind control. Although, I don't think they are being controlled by the Red Force necessarily because we don't see any trace of red anywhere in that scene. Instead, the color we see is blue, which usually within EXO's storyline means that it represents something to do with EXO, who are the good guys. Plus, blue with SHINee MVs usually represents SHINee and their connection as a group.

Minho standing on the edge of that rock formation in "Hard" looks similar to the scene with Key standing on the rock in the middle of the ocean in Key's solo "Hate That …" MV, and it also looks a lot like the scene in SHINee's "Don't Call Me" MV, with Key standing on the submerged phone booth. It all has the same feeling. (If you watch all three of these MVs, you will also see how they are all wearing red in all of those scenes.)

In the last scene at the end it reminds me of the same menacing red atmosphere as Minho's rap section in "Don't Call Me", where we see him in the all red room with the chairs hovering above him. Therefore, I think the gloved hand is Minho's hand because it looks like the same gloves that Minho is wearing in the scene right before that where they are dressed in black. Although I don't know what that means yet, I am sure it is something to connect the storyline to something within one of SM's MVs in the future or will make more sense when more of the story is revealed as SM releases the next chapter, etc.

Although, what makes SM's Universe storyline even more complicated is that nothing is in chronological order, so you really have to pay attention to even the most minute of details to figure out where each MV, or each scene within an MV, might fit within the larger storyline.

But you should also know that no one really knows for sure what is happening in any of the story. There are well known theories and storylines that are accepted within the fandom, which we think might explain what is happening in each MV. And there are theories about how each MV is connected and where each falls within their larger storyline, but nothing is set in stone. Fan theories are constantly evolving and changing with every introduction of a new piece of the puzzle. New things are revealed with every MV release, concert, event, or appearance, etc., which could either add too or change the storyline.

The whole reason why they chose "Hard" for their title track is because they wanted to show everyone that SHINee can do any genre, including hip-hop. They killed this. This will definitely be a contender for album of the year.

The fact that it's nothing like anyone expects and different than anything out there, is exactly what makes it a SHINee song. As SM's experimental group, nothing SHINee will ever do is like anything they have ever done before, and it won't be like anything they ever do in the future, but it will somehow always have that SHINee feel.

Notice how Key was singing through his clenched teeth in the last part of the song when they were all dressed in black. And he still sounded perfect while giving off the "Hard" vibes that the song required. Just one of the many unique elements of this song that only SHINee can pull off.

This is actually just SHINee going back to their roots. LOL Before debut SHINee was actually training to be a hip-hop group. However, as Key tells it, SHINee just doesn't have the swag to pull off hip-hop full time, so last minute SM decided to change up their style to the contemporary R&B style of "Replay" that they have now become known for. "Hard" just proves that in the end, SM wasn't wrong and SHINee has no problem in the world of hip-hop, but their destiny and calling was to be a group that never ties themselves down to just one style or genre. They were meant to show the world that they can be diverse and unique and never do the same thing twice.

With every release that SHINee has they are expected to flip the script and change things up in the Kpop industry. That's why when SHINee makes a comeback everyone pays attention because they are looking to SHINee to show them what the industry's next song style and dance trend will be. It is actually said that within 3 months of SHINee making a comeback that you will see that same sound and dance style being duplicated across the industry with every comeback to follow for both boy groups ad girl groups. When SHINee does something the industry takes note and follows suit.

THE ALBUM IS SOOO GOOD!! Thank you for reacting to shinee 🤍

Love ittttt

This comeback is a true bop

Identity, sweet misery and satellite got to be my top3 in this album, ITS SO GOOD THO?? Not one single skip

5HINee is the different level. THE LEGEND

Thanks for your review. Anyone who is into kpop needs to dig into SHINee's history. They are trailblazers and gamechangers in kpop. The way kpop groups perform now and post practice vidoes and challenges can be traced all the way back to SHINee.

🔥

They always show a different version of themselves with this unique essence and what I love, they evolve with their music.

I love rap and melody and the bridge is divine.

There's a lot of symbolism and Taemin said there's a lot of references to him in there but oh my gosh I'm obsessed with the album.

I will add that I see that they refer to hate and being trendsetters and strong and I look at how they prepare their concerts, I see a combination of everything
SHINee
back back back

Hehe the SM groups been using internet slang as their Title nowadays ! Shine has HARD and EXO about to have HEAR ME OUT 🗣️🗣️🗣️

ITS SO GOOD